The truth about millennials at work

Millennials (those people born between 1981 and 1996) have had a rough press in the last few years. Pictured as being entitled, narcissistic and self-centred it would be easy to think that they would be a dismal prospect to have as colleagues or employees. Given that these people will now be in the 22-37 year old age range, they're already making up a fair chunk of the workforce.

Aside from being potentially deeply patronising, is there any truth in this or is yet another example of self-appointed experts creating an issue they can earn a few bob in consultancy fees from?

A recent PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) report describes clear differences with Millennials, including

• Only 18 percent of those surveyed expected to stay with their current employer for the long term, with over a quarter expecting to have six employers or more in their work life.

• 38 percent felt older senior management do not relate to younger workers, and 34 percent said their personal drive was intimidating to other generations.

• Career progression is a top priority for millennials, who expect to rise rapidly through the organisation. Competitive salaries came second place.

It doesn't take much thought or imagination to conclude that these aspirations apply to any group of people in the 20-30s age range. There is nothing unique here about this specific generation. However these kind of conclusions and headlines are now commonplace.

What is the real situation?

All generations such as Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), Generation X (1965 to 1980) and Millennials tend to view the previous generation in a similar way. In the early part of our working lives most of us are at our most ambitious, creative and idealistic - this applies to all people, in all cultures, across time. 

In 2012, a wide-ranging meta analysis (1) (i.e. analysing the results from multiple, different studies) looked at generational work differences in three key areas: 

• commitment to the organisation

• job satisfaction

• intention to leave

The researchers found no significant attitudinal differences which could be explained by generation. They found some differences that could be explained by age however - for example, older workers were slightly less likely to leave their jobs. This was found to be most likely due to older workers having more autonomy and expertise in their roles, and therefore greater job satisfaction.

Making a special case of a specific generation is misleading and unhelpful and creates yet another opportunity to foster difference, and pitch "us" against "them". It promotes a false need for organisations to provide more training and development to fix this "problem". The key message for employers is that you should not shape your management and recruitment strategies around different generational values. At least, not until there is real evidence that those differences exist.

So forget the "problem with Millennials". The iGen (Generation Z) generation however, could well be another matter... See our forthcoming article on Stress and Anxiety for further details .

(1) Costanza, D. P., Badger, J. M., Fraser, R. L., Severt, J. B., & Gade, P. A. (2012). Generational differences in work-related attitudes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Business and Psychology.